Alonso: United Autosport needs to find more pace
Fernando Alonso believes United Autosport needs to find more pace before the Daytona 24 Hours later this month.
Both United Autosport Ligers were off the pace during yesterday’s mock qualifying, which determined grid box position for the race.
Alonso could only manage 12th fastest in the mock qualifying yesterday, 1.7s slower than pace setter Felipe Nasr.
Though he believes he’s prepared for the race, Alonso said the team needs to find more from the car.
“It’s been a positive test but we need to find more pace,” he said.
“It was good to experience the Daytona track for the first time. I now feel better prepared for the race in terms of having to make compromises due to sharing the car.
The Roar Before the 24 test was only the second time both Alonso and Norris have driven the Liger, and only the first time any of United Autosport’s drivers ran the new aero kit.
Norris agreed there’s a lot more to be done before race day, and admitted the team was on the back foot heading into the test.
“We’ve made progress every day and all three #23 drivers are working well together but there is still a way to go in terms of car performance,” he said.
“I arrived at Daytona with less than 200 testing miles from Paul Ricard under my belt.
“We’ve been playing catch-up compared to our rivals due to Liger’s new aero kit which we’re running for the first time.”
Despite the difficulties, team owner Richard Dean believes United Autosport can be competitive next week:
“We’ve learned an awful lot over the past three days and accumulated masses of data which we’ll now analyse. I firmly believe that we’ll come back for race week in a good position in terms of our rivals.
“The Roar has been a big challenge and at times difficult for us but nevertheless a vital event.”
Qualifying for the race begins on the 25th of January.